The Speakeasy Chantry

The Speakeasy Chantry is based at The Electric Ballroom, an Indie
nightclub in Camden. The top bar is reserved for Awakened visitors
only and this is where chantry meetings are held, the club itself
traditionally remains open during meetings. At present the Ballroom
is closed in the aftermath of two riots and a major fire, but the
top bar was unaffected by the fire and so the members of the Chantry
still meet upstairs.

The entire site is built on a Node, and Tass is available in the form
of silver bangles (or other silver jewellery.) As the power of the
Electric Ballroom Node is insufficient to sustain the Horizon Realm
by itself a second Node belonging to the Three Saints Cabal has been
connected. This second node is a replacement of the original, cursed,
Cleopatra's Needle Node.

The realm is commonly accessed via the top bar at the Ballroom, the
corridor leading back to the club can also lead into the realm (the
choice is the Mage's.)

The realm itself consists of a large Church underneath some form of
Dome that is supported by a number of ornate brass struts. The struts
are festooned with tubes, filled with a glowing green liquid, that
connect to a pair of brass mounted monitors within the Church. The
Dome is near a dark cityscape that contains many burning, manacled
figures.

The Church was surrounded by dull grey sand within which a large
number of purple flowers were blooming, but now is surrounded by a
meadow.

The Chantry has belonged to House Shae of the Order of Hermes for many
years, in the late 1930s they transfered the Chantry, its Nodes and
Horizon Realm to the Hollow Ones. Since taking control the London
Hollow Ones have lost members at an alarming rate. A close examination
of the Chantry records has revealed that no Leader has served for
longer than a year and a day. It appeared as if this was related to an
ancient curse on the Needle, an entity claiming to be Anubis had taken
up residence within the Horizon Realm.

At some point the Chantry acquired a large Ankh as a symbol of
leadership and the "protection" of "Anubis", that was passed from
predecessor to successor. In April of 1998 the last Hollow One of the
Chantry invited Magi from across London to the Chantry. Knowing that
he was dying, Robbins bequeathed leadership of the Chantry to one of
the guest Magi, a Hollow One called Jake.

Unfortunately the curse continued with the new leadership, during the
last six months two deputies appointed by Jake have disappeared and a
third was shot. Jake himself has spent a couple of months in a coma.
After several abortive attempts, the current members of the Chantry
have managed to bind "Anubis" into a statue and requested that the
Needle be returned to Egypt to lift the curse. At the same time as the
cursed node was being removed from the Chantry, a new Ley line was
laid to a Node controlled by one of the Cabals within the Chantry
membership.

This new node has a different ressonance to the Needle, and is more
powerful, subsequently the Horizon Realm has drastically altered in
appearance. Originally the realm consisted of a large black granite
pyramid. Near the top is a balcony accessed from the Ballroom
corridor, walking into the pyramid will normally send the Mage
straight back to the Ballroom.

The pyramid was surrounded by desert sands, roamed by Jackals. It
always appeared to be daylight in the realm although time of day
varies (from dawn to dusk) with no apparent relationship to the
mundane world. A river flowed by the pyramid (leading to the Needle),
bordered by dry rushes and was populated by crocodiles.

Unfortunately the removal of the Needle Node and the connection of a
new node was taken to be a breach of the original Deed of Transfer
from House Shae to the Hollow Ones, and consequently the Chantry
reverted to House Shae at the beginning of September 1998. House Shae,
however, decided to return the Chantry to the members of Speakeasy
Chantry with a proviso that the Chantry is now to be led by a
triumvurate of Deacons.

Neighbouring Chantries

There is a complex web of Nodes and Ley lines spread across the centre
of London, other notable Chantries include the Order of Hermes near
the British Museum, the Sons of Ether near Greenwich and the Virtual
Adepts near the Trocadero (Covent Garden). Unfortunately the
Technocracy also has a strong presence in central London, NWO are
known to based near Euston at the Telecom tower.

Owen, an Orphan, has produced a detailed map of the Nodes of central
London that he is offering up for auction. As far as can be determined
this map is fairly accurate in the location of Nodes, Chantries and
controlling factions. The map also includes the Ley Lines between the
nodes.

Chantry Notables

There are a number of Magi frequenting the Speakeasy Chantry, amongst
them can be found (in no apparent order):

Retirement and death comes to Magi as well as to normal mortals, the
Speakeasy Chantry has had it's (un)fare share of deaths and retirements:

Hector Rassmussen, Euthantos - Certamen Deacon, retired

Brother Clarence, Celestial Chorister - dead

Carter - one time Head of Chantry security, now missing

Owen, Orphan - has aparantly fled London

Peter, Dreamspeaker - dead at his own hands

The name, description and history of the Speakeasy Chantry, it's nodes
and Horizon Realm are the intellectual property of Scott Walker, Ruth
Combie, Ben Geddis and Andy Cooper - the Storytellers for London Mage
- so keep your grubby mits off. Or they'll set the geckos on you.